My first ever Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, a day – for those who don’t know – of giving thanks for all you have.

We don’t celebrate thanksgiving in the Netherlands, so I was particularly excited to celebrate this uniquely American Holiday. It may have even been the biggest reason to live with a host-family, so I could experience Thanksgiving like a real American – and boy did I!

Of course I was familiar with Thanksgiving. Through many TV-shows and movies I’ve learned the basics; coming together with family and friends to have a big feast existing out of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and pie! But, let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be the first time TV gave us a wrong impression of things ;)

So, I tried to make myself not too crazy by putting on high expectations – unfortunately I failed and couldn’t keep my excitement down :D

For thanksgiving, my host-family took me and the other students to Verdi, Nevada to celebrate with their family. The drive to Verdi usually takes about 3 hours, but on thanksgiving you never know! To avoid traffic, we left on Thursday-morning at 5:30! – I am not a morning person, so this was quite a challenge – but it was all worth it because we could drive in one way up to Verdi without any traffic-jam!

It was around 9 AM when we got to my host-parents’ nephews house and we had the whole day ahead of us. First we got all our stuff out of the car and were introduced to the family. Everyone was so kind and welcoming, I immediately felt like home!

We spent the rest of the day playing games, watching movies and taking a walk down to the river till it was time for dinner!!

DELICIOUS!! No other word to describe the food. Our host did an amazing job by preparing the meal! – everything was sooo good and fresh – I still can’t wrap my head around the fact she did all of that by herself, just amazing.

But Thanksgiving is not only about the food. It is also about spending time with your loved ones and expressing your gratitude, so before eating, we all held hands and gave our thanks – this was such a tender and beautiful moment, I almost shed a tear.

The rest of the night we played games and just enjoyed spending time together!!

Friday, after a good night sleep, we continued the thanksgiving celebrating by going for a hike up to Crystal Peak. I loved every single bit of the scenery driving to Crystal Peak; from dry land to a beautiful green forest, to even a lightly in snow covered mountain, but once on top, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I rarely have seen something so astounding in my life. For a minute I was speechless – which frankly, doesn’t happen a lot ;P

After spending some time at the peak, admiring the view, we started our descent, but weirdly that didn’t go as easy as climbing the mountain. Because of the snow the road was quite slippery, and what do you do when the first snow of the season has fallen???

Exactly, SNOWBALL FIGHT!!

Getting back at the car, our outing wasn’t over yet. We still had one more mission….picking out a Christmas tree! So, off we go wandering into the forest till we found the perfect tree.

Back at the house, we all warmed up after lunch and just enjoyed ourselves and each other’s company for the rest of the day.

How much I wanted this weekend to last, It was time to head back to San Francisco! So, packed our bags, the tree on the roof of the car and at 8:30 we were back on the road.

Verdi

The dinner

Crystal Peak

My Family

( for more pictures check my gallery)

I truly had a wonderful time during this weekend and want to thank everyone who spent it with me!! These are all amazingly kind and warm people, and they made this adventure of mine one I will definitely not forget, I am eternally grateful for that!

A beautiful family and I am proud to call them mine as well!

Liefs

Bente